Question

posted by ffdjp
1 year ago
Firefox 23 has made it impossible to run our product. How do we roll back to version 22?

We have a product that uses a java applet to run it. Until Firefox 22 (and for all previous versions), we could depend on the Firefox to work with our product, even when no other browser would. We need to be able to remove FF 23 and re-install FF 22. I've tried all the recommendations to fix the problem, but nothing works. Our Apple customers are the ones who are most affected because neither Safari 6, Chrome nor Firefox will run our product. Our PC customers can run IE.

How do I download Firefox 22? I have a saved copy of the FF 21 installer for PC but not for Mac.

I know that this goes against Firefox advice, but I'm instructing my company and my customers to turn off automatic updates for Firefox until such time that we can use future versions.

I'd rather help you fix whatever it is that is causing issues than have you use Old versions of Firefox and telling your customers to use old versions. That leaves you and all your customers at serious security risks.

This is not a mixed content issue. The message that mixed content was blocked isn't being displayed. In fact, I found the toggle for disabling mixed content blocking and set it to false, but it doesn't matter.

Our product is offline content that requires a web browser, thus I cannot provide a link.

I have ensured that Java 7U25 is installed, verified, and activated. It and all previous versions of Java have worked in all previous versions of Firefox until now.

Now the java applet required by our product never starts. When the product is launched, the following message is displayed:

Loading Java applet...

Then, the following error message is displayed:

The Java Applet required for this viewer has not loaded. Please ensure that you have enabled or allowed the applet to load or verify you have Java installed http://www.java.com

I don't know if this is a Firefox message or if it's coming from our product, but in either case, Java is being blocked, and the only thing that has changed is FF22 -> FF23.

If I cannot make FF 23 work, I have no choice but to advise my company and customers to disable the auto update feature of FF for versions < 23.

Are there any errors in the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer;Ctrl+Shift+K) related to Java?

If content is missing or otherwise not working when a secure https connection is used then check if there is a shield icon to the left of the "Site Identity Button" (globe/padlock) on the location bar indicating that content is blocked.

By default, web pages are limited to loading files in the same directory and subdirectories. To relax that restriction, you can toggle a setting in about:config. This isn't new, but in case this setting now affects your application in some new way, do you want to try it?

The about:config method should work for about:newtab, but extensions can override it (and a user.js file can revert it at the next startup).

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste file and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Assuming it is set to its default value of true, double-click the security.fileuri.strict_origin_policy preference to toggle it to false.

I would consider this to be a temporary workaround, because there is some security risk in enabling access to directories outside the root directory of the application.

If you can relocate your paths so that everything is in the MySubFolder directory or a subdirectory thereof, then your users could use the default setting. I realize that is inconvenient and may require duplication of files in multiple folders, but it's worth considering to close this security gap you would be asking customers to open...

We don't have any choice in how this works because we use a third party product, and their development cycle is much longer and slower than Mozilla's. Also, the last several versions of FF were released in the months leading up to their coming release of a new version. None of those versions will be supported until a future service pack of our vendor's product.

Furthermore, our customer base isn't very tech or Internet savvy, and a significant number of them still demand an offline solution, because they either have no access to broadband or they travel a lot and want to work offline when they're on a plane, train, or mass transit.

Our online solution works without problems on all the current browsers and versions, including FF23, and we advise all our customers to use the online format of the product whenever they can. Most do, but a number don't, won't, or can't.

Bottom line, it may open them up to other issues, but I will not be showing them what you showed me. We'll remote in and make the change. I'm also concerned that they might accidentally affect a different FF config if I let them do it.

Question: Can we package FF for delivery with the fileuri already set to False?

How do I check which java versions are blocked? I can't find anything in about:config or in Firefox Preferences. All I can find is a mime-type list in the add-ons when I click the 'more...' link on the Java add-on.

Hi ffdjp, in your profile folder, there is a file named blocklist.xml. The blocked Java versions will be coded using Regular Expressions, so may be difficult to parse. However, assuming you are stronger in that area than I am, here's the quickest way to open that folder:

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Probably not even related to Firefox support. At a minimum it is off topic for this thread, which has to do with Java and past versions of Firefox. Please use Ask a new question and post in English.